Six G-20 nations, including US and Australia, 'failed' to take action in line with Paris climate deal: Study

Marrakesh: The US and Australia are among six G-20 countries who have "failed" to take action in line with the climate pledges made in the Paris agreement while India exhibited a "mixed performance", a new study said on Thursday.

The study found that the six countries – Argentina, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the US - have not been undertaking sufficient domestic efforts to match their pledged nationally determined contributions to the Paris deal.

The analysis was done by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

India has not provided sufficient information on the baselines for its targets to make an assessment, it said.

Representational image. AP

"Six G-20 countries lack overall framework legislation or regulation on climate change, and need to move from sectoral to economy-wide targets and extend the timeframe of their targets to 2030," the report said.

"The six countries also are either behind on meeting their 2020 targets or have not set any," said the analysis on 'Assessing the consistency of national mitigation actions in the G20 with the Paris Agreement' by Alina Averchenkova and Sini Matikainen.

It said several countries, including India, Russia, South Korea and Mexico, need to upgrade the timeframe of their domestic targets to make them consistent with their NDC.

"A larger group of countries – Japan, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and South Korea – exhibit mixed performance, with improvement required in more than one area. Most of these countries (with exception of India, Russia and Japan) are behind on their 2020 targets," the analysis said.

It said that several countries, including India, US, Argentina, Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia have sectoral targets enacted in domestic legislation and executive action.

These countries may need to examine whether their sectoral policies will be sufficient to meet their emissions targets or whether they would benefit from having an economy-wide target that is consistent with their respective NDCs.

"Accordingly, specific policies underlying the emissions targets will need to be reviewed and adjusted," the report said.

The results from the "Paris consistency monitor" are based on an assessment of past and present action by G20 countries against three indicators".

Six G20 countries - Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy and the UK - together with the European Union as a bloc, were found to have undertaken action that is "either completely or mostly consistent with the key requirements of the Paris Agreement".